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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 248 / Thursday, December 30, 2021 / Notices lionfish to be retained year-round from both the non-containment and the spiny lobster traps. The lionfish could be retained for personal use, which includes further scientific studies, and commercial use. Other incidentally caught species may be retained from the spiny lobster traps during the spiny lobster open season for personal and commercial use. Commercial use is limited to the contracted commercial fishers and must comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
Additionally, to allow for retention of lionfish and incidental species from the traps as outlined, the EFP would exempt the applicant from commercial and recreational trap gear restrictions at 50
CFR 600.725v for the South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper Commercial and Recreational Fisheries FMP and from recreational trap gear restrictions for the Recreational Fishery non-FMP.
The applicant seeks an EFP to test the effectiveness of non-containment traps in capturing lionfish in the South Atlantic while avoiding impacts to nontarget species, protected species, and habitats. NMFS analyzed the effects of testing traps that target lionfish on the environment, including effects on Endangered Species Act ESA-listed species and designated critical habitat, and other non-target species and habitat, in the Gulf and South Atlantic regions through a PEA. Before issuing the permit, NMFS will analyze whether the proposed effort concerning noncontainment traps and use or spiny lobster traps outside of the spiny lobster fishing season fits within the scope of the PEA and the ESA analysis on the expected effort under the PEA. If the proposed activities fit within the PEA
and the ESA consultation, NMFS will document that determination for the record. Otherwise, NMFS will complete the required analyses.
The specific EFP request noticed here is further described and summarized below.
REEF is requesting authorization to test non-containment traps in the South Atlantic to harvest lionfish aboard federally permitted commercial spiny lobster fishing vessels and state of Florida research vessels. The proposed activities would examine the effectiveness and performance of noncontainment traps for capturing lionfish, with the goal of identifying the best non-containment trap modification to maximize lionfish catch and reduce bycatch of other species. Both the noncontainment and the spiny lobster traps would be fished singularly or in a trawl configuration with a maximum of 32
traps and 2 surface lines with buoys per trawl. Some traps would be outfitted
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with cameras and/or hydrophones. Noncontainment traps would be compared to standard spiny lobster trap controls.
The standard spiny lobster traps to be used in the EFP would have a current endorsement, stamp, or certification.
Sampling with the traps in the South Atlantic would occur in Federal waters in water depths from 100300 ft 30100
m between Alligator Reef and Looe Key Reef in the Florida Keys. Commercial vessels would complete 20 trips per year while state research vessels would complete 30 trips per year for a maximum of 50 trips per year among all participating project vessels. Only areas open to commercial lobster fishing would be included in the study area and the complete calendar year would be available for sampling as a result of the lobster season exemptions in the EFP.
No more than 100 non-containment traps would be deployed in the water at any given time, regardless of number of vessel deploying traps. During the spiny lobster closed season, no more than 100
non-containment and 100 spiny lobster traps would be deployed in the water at any given time. Trap soak times would vary, but they would not exceed 21 days per deployment. No bait would be used in the non-containment traps. Spiny lobster traps would be fished normally, with or without bait, at the discretion of the commercial fishermen. The project would deploy both non-containment traps and spiny lobster traps in various configurations. The spiny lobster traps would serve as control traps for the project and act as a way to examine the performance of the non-containment traps as a gear type for harvesting lionfish. As practicable, video and still photographs of trap deployment and animal behavior in and near traps would be recorded using remotely operated vehicles.
REEF would contract up to three federally permitted commercial lobster trap vessels crewed by fishermen with experience fishing within the study area. Additionally, the commercial vessel contractors must have demonstrable experience in the catching and handling of lionfish. The other project vessels would be two state of Florida research vessels. Researchers would be onboard the commercial vessels if scheduling allows. Data to be collected per trip would include: Noncontainment trap design, gear configuration, and fishing effort data e.g., date and time of deployment and retrieval, latitude, longitude, and water depth of each deployed trawl, soak time; trap loss and movement from original set position; protected species interactions; bycatch species amount,
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length, and disposition; and lionfish catch data for each trap type. All noncommercially viable bycatch species would be returned to the water as soon as possible. Commercial fishermen would be allowed to retain lionfish caught in the non-containment trap and spiny lobster traps for commercial catch year-round. During the spiny lobster open season, commercial fishermen would be able to retain for commercial purposes species caught from spiny lobster traps, including lionfish, subject to current regulations. In particular, depending on REEFs commercial vessels selected, species that are legally allowed to be commercially harvested in Federal waters by the contracted commercial fishermen may be retained as commercial catch as long as the harvest and retention complies with applicable laws and regulations e.g., permitted commercial fishermen may retain species of the legal size taken during the applicable season from appropriate areas using legal gears and vessels, consistent with applicable laws and regulations. The researchers and contracted commercial fishers also can retain lionfish from the noncontainment and spiny lobster traps year-round for personal use, including further scientific study. Other incidentally caught species can be retained from the spiny lobster traps during the spiny lobster open season for personal use, subject to applicable law e.g., bag and possession limits. The EFP, if issued, will provide appropriate exemptions from the list of authorized gear types at 50 CFR 600.725v to allow the species to be retained for commercial and recreational purposes from trap gear. This would include an exemption from the recreational trap gear restrictions for the Recreational Fishery Non-FMP in the South Atlantic at 50 CFR 600.725v to allow the use of traps to retain lionfish for recreational purposes year-round, and an exemption from the commercial and recreational trap gear restrictions for the South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper Commercial and Recreational Fisheries FMP to allow the use of traps to retain managed snapper-grouper species for recreational purposes during the spiny lobster open season. Recreational purposes covers harvest for further scientific studies of lionfish as well as for personal consumption of lionfish and managed species caught in the traps. Previous lionfish studies from 100
deployments showed non-containment trap bycatch to consist only of striped burrfish, jackknife fish, and tattler bass, so lionfish is anticipated to be the primary species harvested out of the
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